Phoenix: Inferno
by Nicky2
Summary: Part 2 of my series, in which Obi-Wan must find his rampant Padawan...but another is searching for Anakin, as well.


Title: Phoenix: Inferno  
Author: Tyger  
Author E-mail: amidalakenobi@hotmail.com  
Spoilers: REFERENCES TO A MAJOR EVENT IN THE JEDI APPRENTICE SERIES...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!  
  
Disclaimer: I borrowed all the characters and a little of the idea, but I'll return them (they may be dead, burnt, etc, but they WILL get them back). Otherwise, the story is entirely my own psychotic creation.  
  
Author's Note: I went on the assumption that Obi-Wan got his saber back at the end of Episode I, and he has it still. This gets kind of non-cannon (nuances of Obi/Ami) at the end. I'm really sorry about that, but to quote myself, "It makes sense to ME!"  
  
I finally decided to read the directions! Now I have solved the formatting errors!  
  
Inferno: Part 2 of ?  
By Tyger  
  
"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you." -Yoda, circa 868  
  
"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny...Consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice." -Yoda, circa 900  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The sky was low, dark and heavy and hot. It held the promise of a storm, one that would break with overwhelming power but bring little true relief from the oppressive Tatooine heat. It was here that Anakin had chosen to hide.  
  
Obi-Wan moved through the ruins quickly, one hand resting lightly on his saber hilt. When Master Windu had called, telling him that Anakin had vanished, he had refused to believe it until the rumors had solidified into actual fact. He had been forced to come to grips with the loss of his own apprentice, and he had come to the most obvious place: Anakin's home.   
  
As he waited, he tried to keep his mind clear and free of distractions, but tiny threads of doubt wove themselves into his mind. What had he failed to do? Where had he gone wrong, that his student had so quickly fallen astray?  
  
At least Amidala was safe. She had gone into hiding seven months ago, and Anakin did not even know of the twins' birth. Obi-Wan had taken them to a place that Ami had found terribly ironic: the second moon of Iego, the planet of mythical angels.  
  
He listened for the faintest sound of breath, the whisper of cloth against rock, but all he could hear was the distant rumble of thunder, an ominous omen if he'd ever heard one.  
  
There came an all-too-familiar hiss, and a ruby blade threw demonic shadows across the face of a young man perched on a boulder several meters above him.  
  
"Ah, *Master,*" the young man said sardonically, with an eloquence that Obi-Wan had never known Anakin to use. "You came to find me, to save me. A pity: I'm afraid you're several years too late." He leaped down from the crevice, using the Force to land lightly on his feet. His cloak billowed out behind him as he dropped, and a flash of violet lightning gave him the appearance of a hell-born bird of prey.  
  
"You know I can't allow you to leave here," Anakin continued, in an almost-sorrowful voice. "You could have so much power, if you'd only open yourself up to it. I know you're angry with me. Fight me, or come with me. It's not too late," he offered.  
  
Obi-Wan shook his head. "It's time to come home, Ani," he called over the rising winds. "You don't know what you're doing."  
  
"Don't I?" he growled menacingly. Hearing his mother's pet name only infuriated him. "Watto knew what he as doing when he let my mother die. You could have saved her, years ago: you and Qui-Gon. You could have convinced Amidala to buy her from him - but you didn't. It's *your fault* she's dead!"  
  
Ignoring the fact, of course, that Obi-Wan had never even met Shmi. "Anakin, listen to me!" he ordered. "You don't have to do this. You don't *want* to. Come back with me; it's not too late," he said, repeating Anakin's own words.  
  
"Don't try to coddle me with your mind tricks. You should have known they stopped working years ago." He made an attempt to look small and afraid, failed, and resigned himself to a taunting smirk. "Qui-Gon would never have let me do this; *he* would have been able to save me. You must be a real disappointment to him."  
  
Obi-Wan closed his mind off to the verbal jabs almost automatically, but the barbs found a way through his defenses. What *would* Qui-Gon think of him now? "I believe you're the disappointment, Anakin."  
  
He knew it was true. With a growl, he rushed at his old master, forcing Obi-Wan to draw his saber or be cut in two. The blades met with crushing power, locked at eye level and drowning out even the thunder. As Obi-Wan stared into the face of his apprentice, he realized that the young man he had once known was all but gone. In its place was a cold, vengeful monster, with nothing but rancor in his mind.  
  
But Obi-Wan knew that deep down, that frightened little boy was in there somewhere. Drawing him out, however, was going to be a challenge. The blades disengaged, and he was attacked with such power as he had never imagined his apprentice possessed. Obi-Wan only held the young man off, but he was being drawn farther and farther into all-out battle.  
  
Anakin didn't think; all he could feel was a burning hatred for his Master and all that he stood for...but behind that fire lurked the cold ache of knowing that revenge would not bring Shmi back. A few drops of rain hissed on the lightsabers as the two opponents stood apart, measuring each other's weaknesses. Obi-Wan was far more experienced, but Anakin's smaller form allowed for more agility. It was going to be close - very close.  
  
Ani moved in, circling warily before attacking. When the offensive came, it was fueled with all the forces of the Dark Side. Random objects flew at Obi-Wan from all sides. Chunks of stone rained down from the crumbling ruined temple in which they stood. It was the work of seconds to hold them off, but those few seconds cost him precious warning time.  
  
Anakin leapt at him, his lightsaber aimed at Obi-Wan's heart. He dove to the side just in time to avoid death, but the blade brushed the side of his arm in a burst of fire. He stumbled, fell painfully over the scattered stones. His weapon slid out of his hands, deactivating as it bounced over the rocks. He felt the chill as Ani used the Dark Side to push it away. It skittered uselessly beyond his grasp, and tumbled end over end down a deep, rocky canyon.  
  
Obi-Wan felt the first stirrings of genuine panic rise in his chest--he was defenseless and alone, faced with a monster that he himself had created. He could not let Anakin see that he was afraid: he could not allow himself to be defeated.   
  
Still crouched on his knees, he looked his own death calmly in the face. "What would Amidala say?" he berated calmly, planning his escape. It was suicidal, but if he could get to the edge of the canyon before Anakin, he might survive the jump. "What would she think of the man you have become?"  
  
He lost all hope as Anakin moved slightly to the left, blocking Obi-Wan's only chance of survival.  
  
Anakin winced at the thought of Amidala, but managed to hold on to his anger. "She certainly seems to appreciate the man *you* are," he replied coldly. He laughed at his master's shocked expression. "Yes, I know all about the two of you. I knew from the start."  
  
He chose not to take the obvious bait. "She loved you. She still loves you."  
  
"She doesn't," he snarled bitterly. "She never did. All she ever wanted was you; I was a - a plaything, an extended one-night-stand."  
  
Lightning struck a remaining pillar of the temple; shards pelted the combatants as thunder exploded around them. That was the final chance Obi-Wan was likely to have, but the flickering light had half-revealed something that drove all thoughts of escape from his mind.   
  
In the silence that followed, there was an audible whisper of movement from the edge of the temple. "No, Ani, you weren't."  
  
Both were surprised at the soft new voice. Amidala stepped out from the shadows, and Obi-Wan felt the breath go out of him in a painful rush. No, this wasn't worth it, she'd only get herself killed...  
  
But she was speaking to Anakin now. Her voice was quiet and silken, placating. "The fault is as much mine as it is his. I made a mistake, and I'm sorry. Is it really worth killing for, Ani? Would you really want to hurt the one who taught you so much?"  
  
"He taught me *wrong!*" he snarled, but the lightsaber dropped a few inches, held more loosely in his hand. "If he had been half the teacher Qui-Gon was, he never would have let me do this."  
  
"You know it wasn't his doing; it was your own. Everything you've done here is your own fault."  
  
He gazed at her, frowning a bit as if in deliberation. "Maybe it is," he said slowly, shrugging, "...but I don't really think so." And he raised the lightsaber to strike.  
  
Amidala saw the whole thing as if in slow motion. Obi-Wan would never get away in time; no matter where he moved, Anakin would be there first.  
  
Without consciously thinking about it, she had moved to block her husband's path. Anakin froze, but the ruby blade was already scything down, and he couldn't quite stop it in time. She felt a wash of blazing agony in her side, and her legs simply buckled beneath her. Obi-Wan caught her gently as she fell.  
  
Anakin stared in shock at what he'd done, then he turned tail and ran for his speeder.  
  
Obi-Wan held her as she lay gasping for breath. He cradled her head in his lap with a sudden and terrifying sense of deja-vu. Cerasi, Qui-Gon, and now Amidala: This couldn't be happening to him, not again! Her eyes were bright with tears, not yet fading as the pain suffocated her.  
  
He took her hand, feeling for the pulse that was even now slowing, that soon would be gone altogether. He remembered those nights, feeling her heart beating against his, and was overcome with a deluge of sorrow and loss...and not a bit of guilt. He wouldn't have traded those moments for anything; he knew she was thinking the same thing. He couldn't save her. His fingers lightly brushed her forehead, trying to impart his tiny reserve of strength into her, to take away some of the pain.  
  
She pushed his hand away feebly. "You know it won't help. Please...take care of my children," she whispered. "You must care for them; you're all they have now...oh, Obi-Wan, I'm so sorry. I should have told you I loved you, when it still could have made a difference. I tried, but Ani..." She trailed off, and Obi-Wan was horribly sure that this was the end. But she opened her eyes again.   
  
"Here," she murmured softly, fumbling weakly at her uninjured side. "You'll need this."  
  
Qui-Gon's lightsaber. She'd kept it all these years, and she'd somehow known he'd need it now. His fingers closed tightly around the cool metal. "Thanks, sweetheart."  
  
She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to block off the pain for a few more seconds. She could hear a voice, but she could not answer yet. She needed a little more time, a little more strength...  
  
She felt herself drifting into a warm emptiness she thought was the Force.  
She realized she could hear Obi-Wan's thoughts, plain as though he were speaking to her, and she was afraid. She feared for Anakin, and what would happen when Obi-Wan found him. She realized that she wasn't angry with her husband; all she felt was a strange sort of...*pity* for him, for the terrible mistake he'd made.   
  
"Please don't," she murmured. "Anakin is...only the apprentice. The master is the one you must find. Oh, Obi-Wan..." She was fading now, and her voice dropped to the softest whisper. "I love you." She smiled weakly, then frowned as she saw his face. She touched his cheek, wiping away a solitary teardrop. He caught her hand and held it to his face, as though in doing so he could save her.  
  
She heard someone call her name, and she felt she was ready. ((I'm here,)) she said silently. She stood up, walked off into a desert that was no longer desert but a lush garden she remembered from her childhood. Briefly, she whispered a goodbye, but her body would no longer respond.  
  
Obi-Wan felt her life vanish, even as her smile remained. Her hand slipped from his grasp to fall across the warm stones. Then the rain broke in earnest, mingling with the tears that were suddenly on his face. She was gone -- she had just slipped out of his life...and it was his fault.  
  
Once again, Obi-Wan Kenobi realized what it was like to be totally, utterly alone.  
  
  



End file.
